...that it was melting ice cream that inspired the invention of the outboard motor? It was a lovely August day and Ole Evinrude was rowing his boat to his favorite island picnic spot. As he rowed, he watched his ice cream melt and wished he had a faster way to get to the island. At that moment the idea for the outboard motor was born!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8144179 | Image forming apparatus and control method thereof An image forming apparatus that includes: a laser beam source; plural photoconductive members corresponding to plural colors; a modulation drive unit for performing pulse width modulation for each of colors by an image clock having a cycle of a pixel length,; a sing... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8081204 | Image recording apparatus and image recording method In an image recording apparatus, a shift amount for shifting a transition position of an output light amount from a light modulator element is obtained with respect to each pixel value-change point in a pixel line in order to correct displacement of writing. In a ca... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8031219 | Image forming apparatus and control method thereof A frequency adjusting unit adjusts a frequency of the clock signal to be supplied to a drive unit when an image is to be formed on the second face in response to a contraction ratio of the printing material on which an image has been formed on the first face. The ph... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8031220 | Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member configured to bear an image, an exposure unit configured to draw a scanning line on the image bearing member by exposing the image bearing member according to image data, and at least two detection units co... | 10/04/2011 |
| 7973817 | Pixel clock and pulse-modulation-signal generating device, optical scanner, and image forming apparatus A pixel clock and pulse-modulation-signal generating device includes a high-frequency-clock generating unit that generates a high-frequency clock; a modulation-data generating unit that generates, based on pixel control data that specifies a pixel length and image d... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7834902 | Pixel clock creation method, pixel clock creation device, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus In a pixel clock creation method and device, a high frequency clock is created. A scanning time needed to scan a predetermined scanning length is detected in accuracy of half a period of the high frequency clock to output a detection value indicating the detected sc... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7791634 | Pixel clock generator, pulse modulator, and image forming apparatus A comparator compares a time interval between a first synchronization signal and a second synchronization signal with a target value, and outputs an error therebetween. A frequency calculator calculates a set value of a pixel clock frequency based on the error outpu... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7692679 | Frequency modulation apparatus and frequency modulation method A frequency modulation apparatus capable of reducing a peak level of a radiation noise of a characteristic frequency band due to an image clock. This frequency modulation apparatus is used in an image formation apparatus having an image bearing body to be sca... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7652684 | Image forming apparatus and control method thereof having main scan length correcting feature An image forming apparatus forms an image by scanning on a photosensitive member in the main-scanning direction with a plurality of beams aligned in the sub-scanning direction. To detect differences in the main-scanning length of each beam on a photosensitive member... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7586511 | Frequency modulation apparatus and frequency modulation method Disclosed are a frequency modulation apparatus and a frequency modulation method for generating an image clock that is used for turning on/off a laser beam that scans an image bearing member, such as a photosensitive drum. The frequency modulation apparatus divides,... | 09/08/2009 |
| 7551194 | Optical writing device, image forming device, and optical writing method An optical writing device includes a scanning unit that scans an optical beam in a main scanning direction while shifting a scanning position in a sub-scanning direction by a predetermined pitch, a clock frequency changing unit that changes a frequency of a write cl... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7518628 | Image forming apparatus capable of effectively correcting main scanning misregistration An image forming apparatus includes a light source, a deflector, beam detectors, a clock generator, a measurement mechanism, a frequency corrector, and a phase corrector. The light source illuminates in response to image data. The deflector deflects an optical beam ... | 04/14/2009 |
| 7499072 | Color image forming apparatus and image forming system therewith A color image forming apparatus for forming a color image on a recording medium, includes: an image carrier; a polygon mirror; a signal forming device for forming a pseudo main scanning reference signal having a fixed cycle; and a controller for controlling image fo... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7463278 | Pixel clock generation circuit A pixel clock generation circuit is disclosed, including a high frequency clock generation unit configured to generate high frequency clock, a clock modulation data generation unit configured to generate clock modulation data based on pixel clock phase data indicati... | 12/09/2008 |
| 7434905 | Image forming apparatus and image forming control method An image forming apparatus that is capable of carrying out image formation on a recording medium such as plain paper without increasing the FCOT (First Copy Out Time) and is also capable of carrying out optimal image formation on a recording medium, such as thick pa... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7411597 | Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer member position detection unit configured to detect a position of the intermediate transfer member to output an image forming operation start signal, a pattern detection unit configured to detect a registr... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7382394 | System and method for correcting scan position errors in an imaging system Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for correcting scan position errors in an imaging system. In one embodiment of the present invention, the method includes determining an image beam velocity error as a function of a position within a scan line... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7379085 | System and method for reducing non-linearity errors between two imaging stations A system and method for spatially matching the output of two imaging stations in an electro-photographic device by using a second order polynomial curve and a third order polynomial curve to approximate the non-linearity errors between the two imaging stations and u... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7369151 | Laser control circuit and image forming apparatus An image data processing section subjects input image data to image processing, and outputs first to fourth image data. First to fourth pulse width modulation circuits are PWM circuits in each of which a plurality of reference positions are set in one pixel, and out... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369148 | Frequency modulation apparatus and frequency modulation method A frequency modulation apparatus capable of reducing a peak level of a radiation noise of a characteristic frequency band due to an image clock. This frequency modulation apparatus is used in an image formation apparatus having an image bearing body to be scanned by... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7365764 | Scanning optical apparatus and color image forming apparatus using the same A scanning optical apparatus includes a light source capable of being modulated, a deflecting element for deflecting and scanning a beam emitted from the light source, a scanning optical element for imaging the deflected beam into a spot shape on a scanned surface, ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7352480 | Image processing apparatus and image processing method An image processing apparatus which comprises a RAM acting as a shared memory for storing image data, and an image processing board, connected to the RAM through a PCI bus acting as a general-purpose bus, for performing raster conversion to the image data and perfor... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7348192 | Method for monitoring film thickness, a system for monitoring film thickness, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a program product for controlling film thickness monitoring system A method monitors a thickness of a subject film deposited on an underlying structure, the underlying structure contains at least one thin film formed on a substrate. The method includes determining thickness data of the underlying structure and storing the thickness... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7327379 | Pixel clock and pulse-modulation-signal generating device, optical scanner, and image forming apparatus A pixel clock and pulse-modulation-signal generating device includes a high-frequency-clock generating unit that generates a high-frequency clock; a modulation-data generating unit that generates, based on pixel control data that specifies a pixel length and image d... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7317828 | Color image processing apparatus with background control In an image processing apparatus, a compression processor compresses a color image data, a storage device stores the compressed data, and an expansion processor expands the data read from the storage device. A first background controller controls background of the c... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7295885 | Multi-exposure drawing method and apparatus thereof for dividing an exposing area into exposed zones and un-exposed zones based on odd-numbered and even-numbered vector-graphic data In a drawing method, all information on a pattern to be drawn on a drawing surface, represented by first vector-graphic data of a drawing-coordinate-system, is transmitted to an exposure drawing apparatus having a plurality of optical modulation elements. The first ... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7287700 | Light emitting timing adjustment method, laser scanning apparatus, and image formation apparatus A laser scanning apparatus includes: a plurality of laser light sources including a first laser light source and a second laser light source; a scanner for scanning laser lights emitted from the plurality of laser light sources in a main scanning direction; a light ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7283151 | Pixel clock generation device causing state transition of pixel clock according to detected state transition and phase data indicating phase shift amount A transition detection circuit detects a transition of a state of a pixel clock, and outputs a detection signal according to a timing of the detected state transition. A control signal generation circuit generates a control signal according to the detection signal a... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7271824 | Pixel clock generating apparatus, optical writing apparatus using a pixel clock, imaging apparatus, and method for generating pixel clocks A pixel clock generating apparatus includes a data offset circuit and a pixel generator. The data offset circuit defines multiple data blocks, each data block consisting of a predetermined number of successive clocks, and produces phase data for each data block. The... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7271823 | Optical scanner and image forming apparatus An optical scanner has a deflector, a coupling lens, a cylindrical lens, a plate through which light to and from the deflector pass, and an optical system which condenses the light deflected on a surface to be scanned. Bundles of light beams incident on the deflecto... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7256815 | Image forming method, image forming apparatus, optical scan device, and image forming apparatus using the same An optical scan device having an optical deflector reflecting a light beam from a light beam source so as to deflect the light beam and having a surface to be scanned on which information is written such that the light beam deflected by the deflector scans the surfa... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7227564 | Image forming apparatus and image write start position adjusting method for the same A high-quality image forming apparatus that is capable of accurately adjusting the size and position of an image during image formation on a second surface of a transfer material, even when there has been expansion/contraction of the transfer material due to thermal... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7212224 | Pixel clock creation method, pixel clock creation device, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus In a pixel clock creation method and device, a high frequency clock is created. A scanning time needed to scan a predetermined scanning length is detected in accuracy of half a period of the high frequency clock to output a detection value indicating the detected sc... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7209159 | Image forming apparatus and image forming control method An image forming apparatus that is capable of carrying out image formation on a recording medium such as plain paper without increasing the FCOT (First Copy Out Time) and is also capable of carrying out optimal image formation on a recording medium, such as thick pa... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7206012 | Memory device on optical scanner and apparatus and method for storing characterizing information on the memory device An optical scanner is provided having a memory device thereon. The memory device may store operational characteristics of the optical scanner or data that characterizes laser beam scan path and/or laser power requirements by each laser of the optical scanner. The me... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7193643 | Scan non-linearity correction using frequency modulation and synchronization with a master clock An electronic circuit is utilized to correct scan non-linearity of a raster output scanner. The circuit modulates a clock frequency to match a scan linearity error profile. Because it is a separate circuit, the exiting closed-loop clock generator does not need to be... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7170544 | Frequency modulator for modulating image data based on frequency data of scan lines of an image carrier A frequency modulation device for use in an image forming apparatus. The image formation apparatus includes an image carrier and a laser device for scanning the image carrier along a plurality of scan lines. Each scan line is divided into segments having segment bou... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7167288 | Optical scanning unit, image forming apparatus, and method of correcting positional misalignment An optical scanning unit includes an optical deflector, a plurality of scanning optical systems, and a pixel-clock generating unit. A photodetector is arranged in at least two locations on a writing-start side and a writing-end side outside the writing area. The opt... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7139013 | Laser scanning control apparatus To provide a laser scanning control apparatus for driving a light source adapted to emit a laser beam in accordance with image data defined in pixels to scan an image bearing member in a main scanning direction with the laser beam emitted from the light source throu... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7129967 | Frequency modulation apparatus and frequency modulation method Disclosed are a frequency modulation apparatus and a frequency modulation method for generating an image clock that is used for turning on/off a laser beam that scans an image bearing member, such as a photosensitive drum. The frequency modulation apparatus divides,... | 10/31/2006 |